


The friend of my ex is my friend

by WatercoolerFreak



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Bonding, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Hanging Out, M/M, Multi, tomco - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-26
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-07-26 21:45:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7591552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatercoolerFreak/pseuds/WatercoolerFreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘Actually, I’m here because I remember you said you were good at ball games and I wanted to know if you maybe... wanted to hang out. Or something.’ he blurted out, his smile a bit uncertain.<br/>Star sat on her bed genuinely surprised that he actually did what he did. She looked at her friend, who almost dropped his nachos.<br/>‘I’m… flattered, I guess? You serious?’ Marco raised his eyebrows, not sure if he should trust the demon teenager. Tom shrugged.<br/>‘Sure. I had fun last time.’</p><p>EDIT 12-03-17<br/>I MAY NOT BE FINISHING THIS. I LOST MY WRITING SPIRIT. IT'S NOT ONLY THIS FANFICTION, I CAN'T WRITE AT ALL. SO IF THERE'S NO UPDATE IN LIKE, TWO MONTHS IT MEANS I'M AT LEAST SPIRITUALLY DEAD. SORRY.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote it almost immediately after watching "Mr. Candle Cares". I don't know what it is it just happened. It's not very shippery more like a prologue but... idk yet. Just needed to get this out of my system.  
> Report any mistakes, plz. English is still a struggle.

Star was looking through her spellbook lying on her bed upside down, when something obscured the sunlight. She squinted and as the shadow became too dark to read, she grabbed her wand from the pocket of her dress and, flopping on her stomach, hovered it above the text, letting its dim glow to light the letters.

Only when somebody coughed for the second time did she look up from her book. Noticing the figure standing on the balcony, Star narrowed her eyes and sat up.

‘What do you want here, Tom?’ she asked, looking at him suspiciously. ‘I’m not in the mood for your pathetic-’

‘Yes, it’s nice to see you too, Star.’ Tom smiled his usual, charming smile. ‘I’d love to chat, but I have a business with your friend, Marco. Where-’

‘What do you want from Marco?’ the girl hissed, suddenly in his personal space, the wand shoved into his face, glowing threateningly. The demon furrowed his eyebrows and opened his mouth to respond, but he was interrupted by the sound of knocking. They both turned in the direction of the door.

‘Hey, Star! I made nachos!’

Star glanced briefly in the direction of her ex-boyfriend, who suddenly didn’t look so confident. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

‘Come in, Marco!’ she yelled and the door opened moment after.

‘So I was thinking we could watch this new movie I’ve found-’ Marco trailed off, when he noticed that there was a big demonic cart parked by the railing of the balcony and his friend wasn’t the only person in the room. ‘Am I interrupting something?’ he asked, rising an eyebrow.

Star stepped away from Tom, narrowing her eyes. She crossed her arms, apparently waiting, so Tom turned towards Marco, who looked confused by their actions.

‘Actually, I’m here because I remember you said you were good at ball games and I wanted to know if you maybe... wanted to hang out. Or something.’ he blurted out, his smile a bit uncertain.

Star sat on her bed genuinely surprised that he actually did what he did. She looked at her friend, who almost dropped his nachos.

‘I’m… flattered, I guess? You serious?’ Marco raised his eyebrows, not sure if he should trust the demon teenager. Tom shrugged.

‘Sure. I had fun last time.’

Marco couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face.

‘I guess I’m getting better at befriending other-dimensional folks, then. Count me in.’

Tom shot him another uncertain smile and Marco looked down at the bowl of nachos he was still holding, suddenly remembering he was supposed to watch a movie with Star and he was just about to tell him this, but when he blinked all the food disappeared from his hands.

‘More for me!’ Star flopped on her bed stuffing her mouth with cheese covered nachos. Tom and Marco looked at each other and then chuckled at the sight of typical Star’s behaviour.

‘So I guess-’

‘My place?’ asked Tom, his tone a mix of eager and awkward.

‘Sure’ Marco agreed ‘But, just to be sure…’ He approached the door and opened it, sticking his head out. ‘Mom! Dad!’ he yelled. ‘Can I go play with Star’s demon ex-boyfriend?!’

‘Just don’t come back too late!’ his mom yelled back from downstairs. He retreated into Star’s bedroom, giving thumbs up to Tom.

‘Let’s go then’ he said and Marco followed him to the balcony. He waved his goodbye to Star, who was watching them closely all the time, but decided not to interfere since Marco agreed to go out with Tom and didn’t seem to be under any kind of manipulative spell.

Tom let Marco first into his cart and looked at Star.

‘It was nice to see you again. Also, I like your dress.’

‘All the nicey is yours. Also, thanks. Also, don’t touch my friend.’ She pointed two fingers at him in the ‘I’m watching you’ gesture. He nodded earnestly and stepped into the carriage, which descended in the Underworld just after.

Star dropped back on her bed, sighing.

‘Boi, I hope Marco knows what he got himself into…’ she murmured, chewing nachos.

 

‘Okay, so’ Marco started, hitting a ball with a palette. They were playing table tennis again but Tom’s approach was different this time as he wasn’t hitting with a force that was turning the other’s paddle into splinters. His servants disappeared somewhere too. ‘Why did you _actually_ invite me? Not that I am assuming you would have any ulterior motives’ he laughed awkwardly and flinched under the intensity of Tom’s gaze. The demon shrugged, hitting the ball with almost no effort.

‘You and Star are friends so I thought I could make friends with you too, that’s all.’

Marco chewed on his words for a while, almost losing a ball.

‘Wait… You wanna be friends with me so you would get on Star’s good side! Am I right or am I right?’

Tom winced at his triumphant yelp and the white ball passed by him. He took another one from the basket nearby but didn’t serve, just looked at it, turning it around in his fingers.

‘So? Does that mean our friendship is over?’

‘What?!’ Tom flinched, looking up at Marco’s genuinely startled expression. ‘No! I’m actually impressed! Proud even, kind of. I’m on it as long as it doesn’t involve kidnapping and tortures.’ Marco shrugged. ‘You’re trying dude, and that’s great!’ He smiled. Then he put a finger to his chin. ‘Hmm… Maybe I _could_ become a therapist after all...’

But his wandering thoughts were interrupted by a ball passing a millimetre from his ear. He yelped, jerking back and gripping his ear, thankful it was still attached to his head. The ball has burnt a hole in the far away wall behind him.

‘Focus, Diaz, I’m going to slaughter you once again.’ Tom was smirking, another ball in his hand. Marco raised his paddle.

‘Show me what you’ve got’ he hissed, the corner of his moth twitching.

They finished the game so exhausted they both felt like piles of warm jelly dropped on the couch. And it was just table tennis, for Hell’s sake. Tom sure knew how to make simple things complicated and nearly impossible. Especially when he put the balls on fire. But it was fine, there was more yelling and meaningless insults than actual harm. Afterwards Marco was worn out, but satisfied. He was sipping lemonade from a tall glass, sitting cross legged on a couch in what turned out to be a basement and Tom’s hang out place. The demon was sitting on the other side, chewing on a cookie. He was lost in thoughts, not even aware that Marco was observing him.

Or maybe he was, apparently. Marco flinched when his top eye turned in his direction and soon the rest of them followed, not dropping the thoughtful sensation behind them. Finally Tom focused on him and cleared his throat.

‘Thanks’ he said simply. Marco raised his eyebrow.

‘Huh? For what?’

Tom rolled all of his three eyes, visibly annoyed.

‘You said you were proud of me before. And that you support me, so… thanks for this. Also for hanging out with me.’ He averted his eyes, sipping on his lemonade.

Marco watched him, a bit surprised, before waving his hand.

‘That’s nothin’, man. My pleasure. I had fun too, even back then, when you were actually trying to kill me.’

Tom let out a nervous chuckle.

‘Yeah. Sorry for that.’

‘That’s alright. It’s in the past and I understand. To some extent.’

The silence stretched out, disturbed only by them slurping lemonade through fancy twisted straws.

‘So-’

‘So-’

They chuckled.

‘You go on. You’re my guest’ insisted Tom.

‘Okay’ Marco agreed, shuffling in his seat. ‘So… All the instruments of tortures… Why exactly are they in your hang out?’

Tom looked around, as if he saw the place for the first time. For him there was nothing weird with an iron maiden or a rack here and there.

‘They just… are?’ He shrugged. ‘It has to be stuffed somewhere, I guess. Also makes a nice decoration. And comes in handy in certain… situations.’

‘I see’ Marco nodded. ‘Do you have lots of enemies?’

‘Not really. You were kinda my first true enemy.’

‘Oh. I’m sorry then.’

‘What, why?’ Tom raised his eyebrows.

‘Because now we’re supposed to be friends and you don’t have to tie me to the table.’

‘Unless you want to, of course, I won’t’ he ensured. But Marco gave him a weird look.

‘Ooookayy… But you can always join us to fight folks like Ludo, if you are ever in need of an enemy.’ he offered. Tom had to like the idea because he straightened up almost spilling his drink.

‘That would be awesome! I will be happy to join Star in her fights. She will be much safer with me around anyway.’

Marco raised his eyebrow, looking expectantly at the demon. He raised his eyebrow too.

‘What? You’re just a human. You’re not much of a protection.’

‘Excuse me?’

Tom’s eyes widened when after a good moment he realised what he said was definitely rude. He licked his lips.

‘I mean… I have powers you don’t have and it would be… convenient...’

‘Oh, thank you very much!’ Marco put away his drink, but didn’t stood up. Yet. ‘I know I’m just a human, no wands, no demon powers, but look!’ He threw his arms in the air. ‘I’m still alive somehow! So don’t tell me I’m powerless!’

Tom gritted his teeth and his eyes started glowing a faint red.

‘I didn’t-’

‘You know what’s your problem?’ Marco finally stood up, pointing his finger in the demon’s direction. ‘Friendship is about being equal. There is no room for pointing out race or power or anything-in-that-matter-actually difference! If you treated Star this way too, no wonder she dumped you!’

‘ENOUGH!’

Marco heard and felt the enraged yell and he didn’t even notice when he got so close to Tom, but it probably didn’t matter, he would reach him in less than a second anyway. He was a demon and Marco merely a human after all. He was perfectly aware of it. He just foolishly hoped it didn’t matter.

He was on the floor and Tom was hovering above him, puffing hot, enraged breaths, gritting his teeth. His eyes were glowing red and his hands were gripping Marco’s arms. Painfully. He winced and something in Tom’s face shifted. He closed his eyes and focused on controlling his breath. Marco vaguely remembered Tom having a life coach at some point, which apparently left its mark even if the guy wasn’t around anymore.

The grip on his arms loosened and soon disappeared. Tom stood up and took few steps away, not looking at him anymore. Marco stood up too, feeling sore from being abruptly pushed to the floor.

‘I’ll call the carriage and take you home’ said Tom, but his voice was different than usual. He left the room even though Marco knew he didn’t need to move an inch to fetch a cab.

Few minutes later they were inside the carriage. They drove in silence, until they reached Marco’s home.

‘I’m sorry for today’ said Tom when the cart stopped. Marco looked at him and shook his head.

‘It’s fine. I was a dick too.’ he said but he didn’t feel perfectly fine about it. He knew Tom was nice so he would have a chance with Star. The thought made him feel uneasy in some way.

‘No, you… You were probably right.’ The demon sighed and something clenched in Marco’s stomach when he saw his sagged shoulders. Because that wasn’t how one should be left after a day with their friend. Even if it was a weird unspoken deal in progress. He stood up.

‘Even so’ he said. ‘you can work on yourself. And I still had a good time. So thanks. Regular tennis next time?’

Tom raised his head in surprise because he didn’t expect Marco would want to hang out with him anymore after such disastrous day. But his eyes met an extended fist and genuine smile.

‘Sure’ he said, bumping their fists. Marco left the cart afterwards but didn’t miss the faint ‘thank you’ whispered in a soft voice. They waved at each other and the cart disappeared.

The sun was about to disappear and it was a bit chilly outside on the balcony. He was about to come inside when Star appeared at his side, as if out of thin air.

‘How was it?’ she asked, looking at his face, raising his arms and checking for injuries. Marco looked inside himself for a genuine answer.

‘Awkward. But fine. I had fun, so stop worrying.’

‘How _much_ fun?’ she whispered thoughtfully, looking at the bruises on his arms from up close. He yanked them from her grip, blushing without a reason.

‘Just enough!’ he assured her in high pitched voice. As he was quickly making his escape inside the house, Star was looking after him, humming to herself thoughtfully with narrowed eyes.

‘Something’s afoot...’ she whispered to herself and followed inside.


	2. Toilet visits and bad feelings in the gut

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY, IM DOING THE THING.  
> I didn't expect so much feedback even considering there isn't many Tomco fics yet. I love you all.  
> I'm in hurry for a wedding so I'm typing it in a white shirt, not very comfortable, I'm telling ya >-

Marco’s parents didn’t give a second thought to the fact their son said anything about hanging out with a demon the day before, just as he expected them to. They either didn’t really pay attention or got used to it. Or didn’t really believe him. Either way, they didn’t raise the topic during breakfast and left early for work. It was Star whose eyes he felt on himself from above her cereals. He sighed.

„Star, is there something you want to say?”

„Yes!” She jumped suddenly, almost spilling milk from her bowl. Marco flinched and the princess looked embarrassed with her own action, settling down. „Soooo…” She stirred her cereals with a spoon. “Is it going to be a regular thing? The Tom thing, I mean,” she added, eyeing him with badly hidden curiosity.

Marco shrugged, dropping his gaze to his own breakfast.

“I don’t know. I mean. I said we will meet up for more tennis. So I guess so?” He finished hesitantly. It all depended on how long Tom was going to keep up with him. Maybe his goal to win Star’s heart will turn out soon not to be enough to stand the presence of a boring mortal. Okay, now he was exaggerating. Tom said himself he had fun. But isn’t lying like, in demons nature?

“Marco. My safe guy Marco. You aware he is-”

“A demon?” he interrupted, rising his eyebrow. “Flammable? Short-tempered?” Marco counted on his fingers. “Can’t be fully trusted? Yeah, I’ve noticed.” He waved his hand. “But I want to give him a chance anyway. I know you both don’t...” He grabbed a spoon and tapped it on the rim of his bowl looking for the right word. “...get along well. But I want to have my own opinion on him. So please don’t tell me all about how bad he is, okay? I’ll find out on my own.”

“You say this as if I had only bad stuff to say about him.”

“And you don’t?” He raised his brow sceptically.

“Of course! He is… well, he is a really good kisser! Like the thing he does with his-”

“Nopleasedon’t.” Marco waved his hands in front of her, stopping his friend. “I don’t wanna know, really.”

Star nodded.

“Okay. You want to find out yourself. As you wish. My lips are sealed.” She mad a notion of zipping her mouth shut.

“What.”

“What what?” Star looked at him confused, using only half of her mouth to talk, which she left unzipped yet.

“N-nothing,” he muttered, feeling his cheeks getting warm. Star eyed him weirdly but said nothing. He was just imagining things. Overthinking, as usual.

He finished his food absent-mindedly. His cereals could have turned into worms as well and he probably wouldn’t even notice. They put the dishes in the sink and took out to school to what Marco hoped would be an uneventful day.

 

His hope went flushed down the toilet halfway through the third recess. Literally almost. He was washing his hands in the bathroom when he heard a yelp from another guy standing by the sink nearby. He gave him a confused glance and spotted something with the corner of his eye that made him yelp himself. He was facing a wide grin made of sharp fangs.

“Hi, Marco. Am I… interrupting?” Tom’s smile fell when he took in the teen’s surroundings and his face.

“Well, Tom, you appeared suddenly in a school bathroom. I wouldn’t call it the most appropriate place for making a call.”

“It’s not a girl’s bathroom so I guess it’s alright, isn’t it?” Tom shrugged, snickering. The guy pissing behind them seemed to have a different opinion on the matter though. Everyone else has already escaped as soon as possible, most probably expecting another monster fight. Marco looked at the demon with tired expression but as he seemed unfazed, the mortal only grunted, rolling his eyes.

“Just keep it quick.”

“Sure!” Tom beamed, almost leaning through the mirror. “Do you have time tomorrow? I found a nice place to play tennis.”

Marco looked taken aback, a bit surprised Tom invited him so quickly for another game. They have talked just the day before. He didn’t comment on it though, deciding to rather focus on his internal calendar.

“I think so? I mean, if there won’t occur a sudden outburst of monsters, then yeah. It haven’t happened recently though.”

“That’d be refreshing if it happened. I haven’t participated in an actual bloodshed for quite a while.”

“I’ll be sure to let you know if there appear any monsters to slaughter.”

“I’ll hold you on that.” Tom made a gun with his fingers, pointing at him and smirking. Then he shoved his hands in his pockets and shifted a bit. “So… Is five alright? I can pick you up.”

“I think. Do you move around in anything else than this carriage of yours? Shouldn’t you have like… I don’t know. A cabriolet?”

Tom tsked as if a mere idea of it was insulting.

“I have dimensional scissors, I don’t need a car,” he snorted. “You don’t like travelling with class?” He raised an eyebrow, asking a bit mockingly. Marco felt uneasy under this gaze.

“Well I’m… not used to it? Besides, don’t you want to make things differently from time to time?”

Tom looked like he was considering the idea. He raised his arms, shrugging.

“I’ll take dimensional scissors, then. Maybe we could visit some other places, huh?” he suggested, looking for approval. Marco, on the other hand, flinched at the memories from the other time he was taken for a trip through dimensions.

“I think I’m fine. Maybe another time,” he added quickly when the flicker of rejection-fueled anger reflected in Tom’s eyes. It faded as quickly as it appeared.

“Okay,” Tom said, breathing out. “Tomorrow, five, tennis.”

“Yeah,” confirmed Marco.

And then they stood in front of each other, avoiding the other’s eyes.

“How’s Star?” asked Tom after a moment of silence. Marco looked at him suddenly remembering that the demon is there for her not for him and the fact that he was a good kisser and bad anything else, which probably shouldn’t be taking place in his mind at the moment.

“She’s fine,” he said, not knowing what he should say. They’ve seen each other just the day before. “Still doesn’t trust you, thinks I shouldn’t be hanging out with you and that you’re the bad guy.” He shrugged.

“Oh. Same old then, I see.” Tom pouted, a bit annoyed.

“Yeah.” Marco agreed with a soft smile. Then his expression got turned serious as he fixed his gaze on Tom. “I’m not going to lie to her, you know?”

“What?” Tom furrowed his eyebrows at the sudden confession. “About what?”

“About you. If I find out that you’re better than before, I’ll tell her. But if you act just as she expects you to… I’ll tell her too,” he said with stern expression.

Tom looked at him with bewilderment and a bit of… approval?

“Sure thing. I won’t force you to lie to your friend,” he said, sounding as if a mere thought of him expecting someone to be dishonest was offensive. Marco nodded in acknowledgement.

“So...”

“So...”

The boy, still standing behind Marco, coughed loudly. They both jumped, as he was completely forgotten by them until now.

“Bye. See you tomorrow,” said Tom.

“Yeah, see ya.”

And the mirror faded, returning to reflecting only Marco’s face. Suddenly he felt a bit lonely. Even with the guy behind him and Star somewhere outside.

The sound of running water pulled him out off his thoughts. The guy, probably younger than him, was frantically washing his hands.

“Uh, dunno if you’ve noticed,” he stammered, his cheeks red. “But it’s already five minutes into the lesson.”

Marco’s eyes widened. He was never late for class and he didn’t even notice the time passed so quickly. He murmured thanks and sorries and hurried to his classroom.

 

After the class finished Marco felt a bit more exhausted than usual. His thoughts drifted during the teacher's lecture to other things, other worlds, other species even. He wasn't this distracted since Star has arrived to Earth. Of course, the princess noticed this and approached her friend as soon as the next recess started.

“Heyyyy, Marco!” she waved her hand in front of his eyes, trying to get his attention. “You look weird,” she noted, her expression hardening. Marco swapped her hand, sighing and readjusted the straps of his backpack.

“I'm not listening to this from the other dimension's princess with a cactus headband.”

“It's cute, isn't it?!” she squealed automatically flicking the prickly plant on her head with her finger. In a leather glove. So that she won't cut herself with a thorn, obviously. “Anyway,” she continued, as if there was no dropped topic and the conversation was just going smoothly all the time. “I've heard there is a new ice cream shop opening tomorrow, and i sooooo wanna go,” she said, jumping in front of the boy and then moving this way backwards towards the canteen, miraculously avoiding all the other students while not looking where she was jumping. Her eyes glistened with excitement and anticipation.

Marco laughed and was just about to agree to go with her after school the following day but then he remembered something.

“Uh, actually...” he stuttered. “I don't think I will be able to keep you company tomorrow. I'm busy.”

Star stopped abruptly and he almost bumped into her. She tilted her head.

“Busy with what?” she asked.

“With... business?” he tried, but Star only narrowed her eyes, prompting him to rise his hands in defence. “Alright alright. I'm... going out. Tom invited me for a game of tennis.”

“What? Again?” Star exclaimed, causing few people on the hall turn their heads towards them. “He has just seen you yesterday! What is this even about?” She let out a frustrated noise directed towards the ceiling and then, before Marco could even open his mouth, she pulled him by the wrist into the canteen and towards some far away, empty table. She pushed him on the seat and sat in front of him.

“Spill the beans,” she hissed. Marco opened his mouth, but suddenly Star was at him again, leaning on the table.

“Star!” he yelled as his friend pushed his eyelids open and flashed at his eye with her wand. “What are you doing?!”

“Just checking for any signs of a demonic spell,” she answered simply, squinting her eyes. Then she dropped back on her seat. “Still not any.” She shrugged. The boy groaned.

“I told you Star, I'm agreeing to it, because I want to! And he only wants to make friends,” he explained shortly while searching his bag for the lunch he packed.

“What does it mean _make friends_?” Star asked suspiciously, making quotation marks with her fingers.

“It means...” Marco fished out the sandwiches from his backpack and handed Star one of them. The PB&J one. “Like you and me. Hanging out and stuff. Trust me, he doesn't have ulterior motives this time.” Well, too ulterior at least, he corrected himself.

“Do you trust him?” she asked, her lips already in peanut butter and jelly. Her voice was a bit muffled while she was chewing on her lunch.

“I'm not stupid, Star,” Marco said, looking at her with disbelief for her disbelief in his sanity. “I've already told you I know what I'm doing. I may not trust him, but I never will if I don't try to. I'll just,” he shrugged, “spend some time with him, if he wants to. And I actually don't mind, because he is quite fun to be around. I mean,” he leaned on his elbow, smiling teasingly, “he must be, you wouldn't have ever dated him otherwise.”

His smile faltered and he yelped when his elbow slid off the tabletop, which suddenly started to sink. It's legs started to melt.

“Star!” he exclaimed, gripping his seat and looking around as if expecting pools of lava to appear around. “What have I told you about magicing public property?!”

She sighed.

“That I can't do it,” she said in a bored tone and swung her wand, making the table's legs normal again.

“Thank you.” Marco sat comfortably again. He was slowly finishing his lunch, when he remembered something he should have probably told his friend sooner. “Hey, Star,” he started, trying to sound as innocent as possible. “Would you mind if, I don't know... Somebody joined our fights from time to time?”

“Uh, Marco...” Star gave him a worried look. “I don't think that Ferguson will be able to keep up. He's awesome, of course, but he lacks in training. Oh, let's make a training camp-!”

“No!” Marco interrupted her, hearing the excitement in her voice, dreadful that she will come up with a new idea that will have disastrous outcome. “I meant Tom.” he explained, rolling his eyes. Star blinked.

“Did you two make a deal?”

“No?” Marco answered, rising his eyebrow in confusion. “Tom can do this kind of thing?”

“Of course! He's a _demon_!” Star exclaimed, throwing her hands in his direction. “So no shaking hands, do you hear me, Marco?”

The boy hummed in agreement, trying to recall his last meeting with the demon and if he had unwillingly already agreed to something or if any action resembling a deal offer had occurred.

“Is it possible to make a deal without shaking hands?” he asked, looking towards his friend. Star looked confused. She put a finger to her chin.

“I... I'm not sure,” she admitted. “But, you know, demons are weird so they probably could.” Star shrugged.

“Yeah,” Marco laughed. “Demons, right?”

“Yeah, demons,” Star laughed back but suddenly she stopped, her face serious again. “I don't want Tom on my back in the fight,” she said. “So yes, I'd mind a lot.”

Marco groaned.

“But Star-”

“Not,” she interrupted hurriedly, “at this point at least. You can ask me again at the point of your friendship, when he will be giving you friendship bracelets.”

He rolled his eyes but shrugged.

“Fine.”

They got up as it was almost the end of the recess.

“We can go to the ice cream shop on Saturday, if you want,” Marco said, hands in his pockets as they walked out of the cafeteria and towards their next class.

“Nah.” Star waved her hand, spring in her steps once again. “I'll find myself company. It's not like you're the only human on the planet!” Star turned around taking in all the students gathered in her range of view. “He looks interesting,” she murmured, narrowing her eyes at someone, but Marco didn't bother to look.

“Remember not to eat too much ice cream or you will get a sore throat again or-”

“Yes yes yes of course Marco.” She waved her hand again, looking at him with exasperation. “Don't worry. I know how to eat ice cream.”

Marco noted to buy some cough syrup and medicine on his way home.

 

Friday was a fidgeting anticipation. Marco knew Tom won't appear until five but looking at the slowly moving hands of the clock made him even more anxious. Star was poking him all the time, sticking her elbows in his ribs and kicking his shin. He was immune to this all, making up scenarios in his mind.

Scenario in which he pisses Tom off again but this time the demon can't control himself in time.

Scenario in which the whole place, wherever they're going, goes down with flames.

Scenario in which Tom kidnaps him and demands ransom in the form of Star dating him again.

Another one where his monster arm somehow wakes up and takes control.

Another where he is shoot by some kind of snipers who don't think he should be spending time with an influential demon.

Someone could kidnap him. He could be burned to death. He may become fugitive. His head started to ache as his brain came up with more and more possibilities. His pockets and bag were already full of pocket extinguishers, survival knives, lighters and first-aid kit. Also paralysers.

The clock was moving closer to five and he still didn't feel ready. Maybe he should wear more clothes? What if he ends up on the peak of Mount Everest?

He breathed out, lying back on his bed. Why was he freaking out more now that he was going to meet up with Tom for the second time? That was probably due to him having time to be prepared. Too much time to freak out.

He felt the mattress dip and he jolted up. He yelped, falling off the bed when he spotted a grinning fire demon on sitting beside him.

“Hello, Marco. Sup?”

The boy could tell Tom was trying not to laugh at his reaction. He looked amused and Marco refused to be the case of it ever again. He stood up, dusting himself off.

“Nothing much. I'm trying not to have a panic attack at a demon suddenly appearing in my room _without knocking_ ,” he answered sourly. Tom snickered and jumped off the bed.

“You goin'?” Tom glanced at him, twisting his dimensional scissors on his finger. They looked different than the ones Star had. Actually, they looked nothing like scissors. More like a cross made of fire.

“Uh, sure,” Marco answered, approaching his bed again. He grabbed the straps of his backpack and Tom raised an eyebrow looking at it.

“What's in there?” He pointed at the backpack. “It looks heavy.”

“Uh. Just some stuff,” answered Marco vaguely. Tom waved his hand.

“You won't need it. Leave it and let's go.”

But Marco stayed beside his bed.

“But... But I need these things. What if something happens or-”

Tom rolled his eyes, looking slightly irritated.

“I have demon powers, you have karate, we will manage. Let's go,” he hurried him and opened a portal with his scissors. He shuffled closer to it and looked at Marco expectantly. The boy looked uncertain and with a bad feeling in his gut, dropped the backpack on his bed. Tom smiled triumphantly and stepped into the portal. Marco followed, looking at his room and the backpack left there as if it was going to be his last time seeing them.

Later it turned out his gut was right as one of the scenarios he anticipated became truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it's all very spontaneous and YOLO and I can only hope I will finish it, feel free to send me Tomco prompts, if you have any! Be it in comments or private massages or tumblr (watercoolerfreak). I can't promise I will write everything tho. But I would like to and I don't have many ideas for this ship.
> 
> Tell me what you think ab the chapter and thanks for reading! <3


	3. Boy talks over pink lemonade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's late but I made a Royal Fuck Up and so couldn't write for a while. Let's just say I did something I hoped to avoid and succesfully did for many years 'til now :/  
> But the chapter is finally heeeere, it has gay title and some shit happening :'3 I decided to start posting it on my blog too so if anyone for any reason was curious or wanted to read it on blogger it's watercooler-fagtory.blogspot.com :3

Actually, Marco was looking at two of his scenarios coming to life.

'Well,' said Tom, standing beside him. 'It took a... an interesting turn, didn't it?' He smiled sweetly, looking around with interest and Marco wondered if the sound of screaming innocent people did this to him.

They were still on Earth. Marco didn't know why, maybe his mansion wasn't big enough for their own court, maybe Tom wanted to explore. It didn't matter. What did matter was the sound of fire sirens and the sight of flames slowly reaching higher and higher up the side of the building.

'It sure did,' Marco muttered. 'Let's get outta here.'

It all started out fine. They just played, shouting insults and jokes at each other from their sides of the court. Then suddenly Marco felt a pang in his right forearm. He started panicking, obviously, and stopped the game to check on his arm. Of course Tom asked what happened and at his vague explanation, he approached the mortal and attempted to grasp his arm to examine the spot which looked as if it was bruised. He said Marco was just paranoid, but as soon as his fingertips brushed the skin...

'Sure thing, man,' agreed Tom looking around at all the people gathering to see what was the commotion about. He extended his hand as if he was going to grab boys elbow while opening a portal with his other, but they both flinched and backed away. 'Sorry,' he laughed awkwardly. 'It's quite... something, though. Still can't believe you have it.'

Marco winced. 'Yeah, me neither.'

Last time they touched Marco got dizzy and dropped to his knees, his vision gone black. He felt his hand detaching from him although he knew it was still there. Then the fire engulfed him and he tried to yell but it didn't sound right. Something reached his ears but it didn't seem like his own voice.

Then he remembered. It was the voice he sometimes still heard in his nightmares. The monster arm.

But it disappeared. Just like it appeared. Well, not exactly _disappeared_.

'It's still there. Dormant. It's a leech type, very close to demons, so I think my presence might have triggered it appearance. Sorry.' He didn't sound apologetic enough to Marco. The demon was explaining this while slowly extinguishing the flames licking Marco's body. They were warm, not burning. Purifying type, Tom had said. 'Damn, how did you even got that thing?' he asked with sheer curiosity. Marco was reluctant to tell him that Star had screwed up a spell but then again he was her ex-boyfriend he probably had seen her screwing up many times. So he told him and Tom just rolled his eyes, not even surprised or concerned. Marco, on the other hand, was _very_ concerned.

But he had another question in mind now that they were flying from the crime scene.

'Wait... If the purifying fire is non-inflammable, why is the building burning?'

'Well, dear human Marco,' Tom started his explanation, and Marco rolled his eyes. 'The purifying one is _hella_ hard to handle and I just maybe haven't practised it enough so I summoned too much and had to separate the actual fire... from the just-bad-things fire.' He gesticulated with his hands the motion of dividing something into two chunks. 'And that's how the backfire happened. Couldn't help it.' He shrugged.

And maybe, just maybe he got a bit upset at the scene in front of him and his temper got a better of him. But it was still mostly the lack of practice.

Marco didn't comment on this aside from a little 'I see'. He felt bad for causing a fire and even worse that he was glad it kept the weird arm away from him.

He blinked while entering the portal Tom made and the scenery changed. They were in his bedroom. And it wasn't even six yet, he noticed looking at the clock. His gaze shifted to the demon standing awkwardly in the middle of his room, the portal still opened.

'Sit down. I have questions.' Marco gestured vaguely towards somewhere in the room. Apparently Tom decided he was referring to the bed as he sat there and hesitantly crossed his legs, slipping his trainers off before. He looked around the mortal's room as he didn't have time to do it before. He noticed it was almost the opposite of Star's. While her place was always messy and stuffed with junk to the brim, Marco's room looked like it was straight from a magazine. Well, except maybe more... homey. Tom would add some shackles and torches here and there though.

An awkward cough dragged him back to the owner of the room.

'Do you want something? Drinks, food? I'm going to check if there are any cookies left in the kitchen,' he said, approaching the door, and looked at Tom expectantly.

'Nah, I'm good,' the demon said. Marco put his hand on the handle and opened the doors.

'Don't touch my stuff',’ he hissed before exiting the room. Tom raised his hands, showing he was innocent. He wasn't.

As soon as Marco disappeared from his view, Tom stood up to take a closer look at the room. He was slightly dumbfounded with the sight of all the labels and order the boy maintained in the room. He felt uneasy and out of place. He liked it. Ruining the perfect picture. He supposed Star was doing just the same thing most of the time.

His thoughts shifted to his ex-girlfriend and the temperature in the room rose. He still didn't know what to think of Marco Diaz. He still considered him a rival but more of an unconscious one. He got to spent more time with Star after all. Even if he claimed there was nothing between them now who said there won't be in the future?

He shivered but more than anger he felt sadness. Tom was overwhelmed by his own helplessness. All he had now was waiting and trying his best to prove to Star and to himself that he could change. He promised to himself to never force his feelings on her again.

'I told you not to touch my stuff,’ said the voice from the door.

'I was not,' answered Tom quickly but he couldn't even find it in himself to sound annoyed by the accusation.

Marco entered the room holding a tray with some sandwiches, cookies and two tall glasses filled with pink liquid. But what Tom focused on was the person lingering in the doorway behind the boy.

'Hi, Tom,' Star greeted him coldly.

'Hi, Star.' He smiled, but he knew he could do it better. More genuinely, wider, more charming. She must have noticed but didn't seem to mind. Or care. Or she haven't and it was only his hope she knew him enough to know when he was faking a smile.

'Are you having a boy slumber party over here?' she asked, tilting her head. Tom opened his mouth to answer but closed it and looked at Marco instead, who was fiercely shaking his head declining such an idea.

'Noo, no ho ho, no. We're just going to have a boy talk and then go to our respective beds in different dimensions,’ he said, putting the tray down on his desk and going back t the door to close it. 'See you later, Star.' He smiled sweetly and closed the door before she could protest. Then he looked back at Tom, lowering his voice to a whisper. 'We can have a sleepover, if you want, but if Star knows she will throw her own counter-party'. He eyed the door nervously as if she could hear that. Tom snorted.

'Of course she would. And no, I think I'm not gonna...' Marco saw his third eye glancing briefly to his right arm. 'I wouldn't want to overdo your hospitality,' he finished quickly, eye back on Marco.

Yeah, Marco was a bit anxious about his presence now too. And that was exactly why he wanted Tom to stay for a while. But before he could ask his questions he had to explain the ingredients located on the tray as Tom approached it and looked at the food with curiosity and a hint of distrust. Mostly towards the pink drink which was just a plain watermelon lemonade.

'So what did you wanted to ask?' prompted Tom, chewing on a sandwich Marco's mom made. It seemed he really liked them. They were sitting on the bed, tray between them and drinks on the nightstand. Marco already hated the crumbs he was going to find in his sheets later but he tried to keep focused on more important matters.

'You said it is dormant,' he started after swallowing his food. He tried very hard not to look at his right arm. Tom did it for him. 'Is there a chance to get rid of it completely?'

He felt like a traitor. Turning with his problem to someone else than Star. The problem she couldn't handle properly. The guilt settled heavily in his gut.

Tom looked thoughtful for a while as if trying to recall his lessons of vanishing enemies or whatever it was that demonic schools covered. He glanced at Marco's arm and it seemed like he was considering cutting it off as an option.

'Well, the most obvious solution would be to get it purged. I don't know if there is anyone able to do this, though. Even my father probably can't and it would take me years to master the technique.'

Marco felt a strange feeling of gratefulness when Tom said he was willing to help him himself despite crushing most of his hope in one sentence.

'Or,' Tom continued, 'you could just overpower it and take control.' He shrugged. Marco gaped at him with bewilderment.

'What do you mean overpower?' he asked sceptically.

'Man, it's simple.' Tom rolled his eyes, looking annoyed at the lack of knowledge mortals had. 'The strongest party sets the rules. You could completely destroy it's consciousness or let it believe it's the one in control. Besides, this arm is pretty cool. I would keep it if I were you and go with the overpowering thing.'

'Well, that's great you're not me because I'm so not letting it share my body.' The boy rolled his eyes.

'Damn, Marco, it _is_ your body', demon groaned. ‘The best part of it, actually.'

Marco raised his eyebrow.

'Is this about the mortals’ weakness again?' he asked sourly and Tom immediately stiffened. He averted his eyes.

'No. I didn't mean that. Sorry.' He actually looked apologetic for once which left Marco surprised that his words must have left some impression on him.

'It's fine.' He shrugged. 'Believe me, I'm perfectly aware of my abilities. I know you could incinerate me before I would even raise my hand in futile attempt of shielding myself.' He winced at the thought. 'So I only hope you won't do it.'

Tom laughed. It was a breathy sound filled with mirth and a little bit of mischief. Marco was stunned for a second as he has never heard Tom laughing before.

'I won't,' the demon said. 'Star would kill me.'

Marco laughed too.

'Yeah, she would,' he admitted. 'Like when I was kidnapped and she went all glowy and released so much power-'. It was Tom's surprised face what told him he said too much. 'Um...'

'You were kidnapped?' Tom raised his eyebrows and Marco felt himself go hot with embarrassment. He didn't mean to share it. It just slipped. He never wanted to prove Tom's view on how weak humans were. On how weak was Marco Diaz, a mere teen playing monster fighters with his friend.

'Marco, by whom?' insisted Tom when he didn't respond. The use of his name sent shiver down Marco's spine. Tom rarely did this. Not like that. He got serious and might even get angry at him. Marco didn't have any other option so he told him everything.

'It was Toffee,' Marco admitted. 'A weird lizard lawyer. He shouldn't be alive by now, as he was after Star's wand, but unlike Ludo, he wanted it destroyed. It made a big ka-boom,’ he made an adequate motion with his hands, ‘and we survived only because we sheltered in a weird indestructible cell I was kept in. But Star's wand somehow survived and Ludo too, so maybe Toffee is just licking his wounds somewhere...' He trailed off, voicing his concerns for the first time since he thought of it. Tom looked at him with unreadable expression. 'Tom?'

The demon snapped out of his thoughts and shifted uncomfortably.

'Dose he...' He licked his lips. 'Does this Toffee wear suits and has his hair pulled back?' he asked. Marco knitted his eyebrows.

'Yeah?' he offered, feeling dread creeping on him. Tom turned his head to the side, looking at the pattern of Marco's patchwork duvet.

'He's,' he sighed. 'He's my father.'

 

'What?!' Marco yelped, looking at Tom with disbelief. Demon turned is gaze towards him, his eyes filled with sadness, shame and guilt. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it and bit his lip. His eyelids fluttered, he sighed and he couldn't help it anymore. Tom looked Marco straight in the eye and his face split in two with a mischievous grin.

'If you could only see your face!,' he cackled and started laughing so hard he fell back on the covers, holding his stomach. Marco's cheeks grew hot with embarrassment.

'You-' He gritted through his teeth. He tried to be patient but Tom's laugh didn't seem to ease. 'Stop laughing at me!,' he whined and threw himself towards the demon, who just greeted him with open arms, clutching him closely to himself and so preventing any of his moves. He was shaking with laughter and Marco, who could feel it reverberating through him and see his eyelashes sparkling with tears of amusement, couldn't help himself and started laughing too. Tom relaxed and Marco fell on the bed beside him, facing the ceiling.

'I'm sorry,' Tom breathed out after a while, his heavy breathing slowly dissipating. 'I couldn't help myself. And your face.' He let out a husky chuckle, before exhaling deeply and slowly getting a grip at himself. They fell into comfortable silence, until Marco felt a shift beside him. He turned his head to meet Tom's eyes staring at him.

'He is my uncle, though,' said Tom. Marco snorted.

'I'm not falling for this again.'

'You don't have to.' Tom shrugged, turning at the ceiling again. 'My family doesn't like him anyway.'

Marco didn't believe him but it probably didn't make any difference if he did or not.

'If you ever were to get kidnapped again... Which I hope you won't', he added quickly, 'I'll help too.'

'Oh, great.' Marco rolled his eyes. 'Now I have two bodyguards. How cool,' he muttered. He hated feeling hopeless and being reminded about the Toffee incident made him feel like that.

'You know, you could defend yourself more efficiently if you had control over this monster arm,' Tom said suddenly, still not looking at him. Marco glanced in his direction. Unwillingly, he started thinking about this option. He hummed softly, letting the demon know he heard him and after a while he decided to ask a question.

'Would it hurt if I decided to purge it afterwards?'

He didn't like the fact that Tom shrugged.

'I don't know. It's not a common occurrence,' the Demon just said and then looked at him thoughtfully, slowly shaking his head. 'But Marco, think about it.'

'Huh?' He narrowed his eyebrows. 'About what?'

'Don't you feel bad like this? Being mortal?'

Marco scrunched his nose.

'Not this again.'

'No, listen to me. You can be less vulnerable with this arm. Have you ever used it?'

Marco did use it. And he could still remember how powerful and strong it made him and how that made him unable to stop himself, to stop _it_. He could also remember the lack of control and unexplainable hunger of the arm. He shivered.

'I did. But it wanted to eat human bowels, dude, I don't think it's a view I can bear.’

'Star stopped it, didn't she?' Tom asked abruptly. Marco raised his eyebrow.

'Yeaaah, eventually,' he answered slowly. 'And?'

'And,' Tom continued with a smile of someone who can already see the winner prize ahead of them, ‘you should talk with her. She is able to stop it if it gets savage, I'm able to stop it too, you shouldn't worry about it.'

Marco looked at the demon. At his small pleased with himself smile. After a while, he groaned.

'Why am I even listening to you.'

'I can give you some reasons,' Tom offered, but Marco gave him his best death stare and he decided against it. They sat in silence, before the demon raised his voice again, staring at his arm intently as if it was going to change any second by the mere touch of his gaze. ‘How are you feeling? he asked, surprising Marco. The boy looked at him, stunned before remembering they indeed touched a bit, and he was set on avoiding it for the time being. He looked at his arm which looked perfectly normal. The colour seemed a bit off but he could be just paranoid.

'Fine, I guess, but…,' he trailed off. He looked briefly at the short-tempered demon sitting across from him. He didn't want to be the one telling him he wanted to put a stop to their meetings. Luckily for him, even if Tom has noticed the unfinished sentence, he decided to voice his own thoughts instead of dwelling on it.

'I will look into it. The purifying and parasites,’ he clarified, ‘so you will be able to choose,' he said. 'I have a pretty big library with all this occult shit. And I won't hang out so much around you so it won't trigger any more... incidents.'

Marco relaxed hearing that Tom came to the same realisation and he won't have to fight him over it.

And before he could process it, Tom was standing up and reaching into his pocket. He jerked up, stumbling from his sheets.

'I'll start straight away,' he said looking at the rip through dimensions he was cutting. He glanced at Marco. 'You tell Star about what happened, just in case.' Tom made a move towards him and Marco shifted too, expecting a fist-bump or a handshake or a simple pat, but the demon was the first to realise what was happening and he stopped himself mid-way which ended up in some weird movements and averted gazes. He smiled instead, showing off his sharp teeth. 'See you, Marco. Don't forget to tell Star!,' he said, pointing his index finger at him, just before hopping into the flaming hole.

'Bye!' Marco yelled back and the rip closed.

He stood like that, in the middle of his room for a while feeling the awkwardness and weirdness dissipate to leave only dread settling upon him. He jolted up from his trance and immediately targeted the door. He needed to tell his friend straight away.

'Staaar!'

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your love and comments and kudos <3  
> (I'm pretty sure I had something else to say which was important but screw this I forgot. I'll just update the notes if I remember. I'm so old, guys ;-;)


	4. Boys these days spend too much time in front of their mirrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE, GUYS.  
> I had hard time getting used to my new environment but I found some nice ppl to hang out with, I kind of understand uni and I've seen Ghost Stories and ok now positives end. BUT. I've seen the kudos and they helped me to hang on. THANK YOU GUYS FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU EXPRESS FOR THIS FIC IN ANY WAY. I LOVE YOU ALL.  
> I hope you had a nice Halloween. I did. I made a crappy costest of Karkat (which U can see on my ig, it's the same name) for the occasion and messed around a bit c': If you want to share your costumes, or anything really, I'm all ears.  
> Sorry for my rambling, now go read .3.

 

He haven't seen Tom in a week and although he has met him four times in his whole life if accidental call counts, the sudden change from previous sudden change seemed odd. He couldn't help but wonder how was he doing. If he was looking for the information like he said to Marco he would, if he was really going to help. He wasn't even sure if the time in Underworld passed the same way in the first place.

He didn't have much time to dwell on it, though. As soon as he told Star his monster arm was back, she became his shadow 24/7, never leaving his side. It got problematic at times, but mostly it was nice to have company of his loud ecstatic friend. He didn't feel alone and he didn't have to worry too much. Which doesn't mean he didn't.

They were walking back from the new ice cream shop, Marco with his mix of salty caramel, milk chocolate and cream and Star with her mix of basically everything they had. It was weekend again and the sun was shining softly. The air around seemed to be buzzing with statics and Marco felt like he was being watched. But he was probably paranoid so he decided against telling his friend.

Soon enough his attention was drawn somewhere else. He spotted a familiar blonde hair through the glass of the nearby skate shop. He stopped abruptly and Star noticed the shift in his behavior and followed the line of his gaze.

„Oh! Jackie!” She started waving her hand, as if the girl could see her.

„Star!” Marco whispered harshly, trying to stop her, but she was already at the display window. He anxiously followed after, hoping to drag her away from there. Luckily, Jackie was still turned with her back to them. But as he approached the window, he yelped, jumping back and almost dropping his ice cream on the pavement.

Janna appeared out of nowhere just behind the display glass, waving at them innocently. And of course his girly shriek didn't go unnoticed. Few people at the shop looked up searching for the source of the noise and Jackie spotted them, rising her hand in greeting. Marco, weak in the knees, waved shakingly.

While his eyes were fixed on the blonde in the shop, Janna approached both of them.

„Hi, Star. Marco.” She nodded and stood beside them, staring at Jakie through the display window. The girl inside averted her gaze back to the skating accessories, sweeping them with her eyes absentmindedly, before inching slowly in the direction of the exit.

„Hi, guys,” she greeted them when the doors shoot close behind her. „’Sup?”

Marco stuttered something about ice creams, aware of the knowing smile Star was throwing at him. He still felt overwhelmed in Jackie’s presence. One could think that being kidnapped by a villain, spending time fighting monsters with other-dimensional princess and befriending a demon make a person immune to something such trivial as girls. One would be wrong, apparently. Maybe it was just his thing, maybe Marco could fearlessly throw himself in a fight but would start sweating every time a pretty girl appeared in his sight. Sometimes he would give everything to be another person, one not having such problems with talking to girls. He wondered if there was a spell that could stop his knees from shaking, tongue from getting stiff and brain from becoming spongy, while his mouth opened and his mind became hazy.

„Have you been to the new ice cream shop?” he asked, surprising himself.

„Not yet.” Jackie shook her head. Marco smiled kindly at her.

„Wanna taste then?” the boy said, offering his ice cream and his brain short circuited but when she raised her eyebrows and then shrugged saying a soft „Sure”, leaning to taste his ice cream cone, he couldn’t back up. His knees were suddenly shaking again when Jackie’s pink tongue swiped on the ice cream apparently not bothered by the thought of saliva exchange.

„The salty caramel is the best,” she said, licking her lip and rubbing with a thumb the corner of her mouth. „Maybe we should go grab some too, what do you think Janna?” she asked, moving her attention the the friend that was accompanying her. Janna shrugged.

„Why not,” she said and approached Jackie, who waved at Star and Marco.

„See ya.”

Marco waved back and Star yelled „See you at school!” from behind him. He winced. She was closer than before and soon he felt her hand gripping his shoulder as the two girls disappeared at the corner, chatting with each other.

„What… WHAT WAS THAT, MARCO?!” she almost yelled into his ear, shaking him violently, her eyes big, bright and SCARY. „Did you just ACTIVELY flirt with a girl?”

Marco shuddered when the realization settled in his consciousness.

„I just-,” he mumbled, his tongue dry, „-I just did.” Marco avoided Star’s ice cream dripping everywhere by an inch. „Star, I just did!” he exclaimed, gripping her shoulders. They beamed at each other for a second, before Marco’s smile fell and his grasp weakened. „Oh my gosh but didn’t I go overboard? I totally did go overboard”, he wheezed, panicking. Star patted him on the shoulder.

„You totally went overboard,” the princess agreed and Marco glared at her weakly. „But she wasn’t grossed out”, she pointed out. „Which means she must really like you. Or be very weird...” Star narrowed her eyes in thought. „You never know where the traitor hides,” she murmured.

„What?” Marco raised an eyebrow. Star focused her gaze on him.

„What what?”

He shook his head, focusing instead on something else his friend said.

„So I was gross,” he repeated, gripping his hair and slowly starting to pace around. „She was totally absolutely grossed out by me. I was disgusting. It’s too early to share an ice cream cone! I forcibly sped up natural flow of things!” Marco exclaimed, visibly balancing on the edge of shattering.

„Marco, _noo_!” Star waved her hands to get his attention. „You didn’t, you made a big progress, it’s gonna be fine!” She actually thought so but considering it was Marco, her best Earth friend, she knew it was very out of character for him.

„But it wasn’t in my plan!” he whined, weak in the knees again as the embarrassing scene kept replaying in his head. He still couldn’t comprehend it actually happened. That he did what he did. An alien force steered him, one could say. The thought led him to the latest events. „The arm,” he breathed with horror. Star looked at him with puzzled expression before her face lit with comprehension and she gave out a quiet „oh”.

They looked at each other and even Star couldn’t hide her concern. It was different before, because they could see what they were fighting, a visible leech attached to Marco’s body. Now it was inside him and was slowly trying to gain control. The thought horrified Marco. Their enemy was invisible and wasn’t even aggressive. Like nothing they had to deal with before.

„I need to get rid of it” said Marco, his hand having a tight grasp on his right arm. Star took him by his other elbow. „I need to call Tom,” uttered Marco. The girl frowned. She knew there was a chance demon could help but she didn’t like it was his help Marco was looking for. Fine, so maybe she didn’t do the best job last time, but… She sighed.

„Let’s go home,” she said softly, steering him in the direction of Diaz’ household.

 

Tom looked tired. His usually perfectly styled hair were sticking on one side of his head and one of his eyes was looking inside his skull, as if it had fainted.

„You don’t look too good,” noticed Marco, wincing. Tom shrugged.

„I know. I’m just… busy.”

Marco wouldn’t believe he was busy for his sake, so he assumed it was different kind of busy, like prince-of-hell one.

„What’s up Marco? Any nice monsters to fight?” Tom asked, a lazy, teasing smile on his face. He leaned his chin on his palm, ready to fall down and be asleep any second.

„Not really,” Marco answered. And he hesitated for a whole second before telling him the events from meeting with Jackie. When he finished, Tom was looking at him, stunned, and even his third eye came back on it’s place.

„You have a crush on that girl?” he asked. Marco stared at him.

„That’s… that’s what you found weird about it?!” He threw his hands in the air. „Of course I have a crush on her. Lots of people have crushes. Don’t you have one on Star?”

„Fair enough,” Tom muttered, although he didn’t sound convinced. He coughed. „So I guess you want to get rid of that?”

„Yes.” Marco solemnly nodded his head. „Fifty thousand times yes.”

„But wasn’t it better at courting than you?”

Marco stopped midway of saying how much yes he was towards the idea of being leech-free. „What?” He made a disbelieving face. Tom looked at him like he just missed a very obvious clue in kids cartoon.

„How long do you have a crush on her?” he asked and Marco winced.

„Years?” he offered reluctantly. Tom gave an appreciative nod, as if he just confirmed something.

„And you made almost no progress since then. Your leech managed to get further in a minute than you in a lifetime,” he explained, smiling. Definitely missing the fact there was nothing to smile about. Marco opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again.

„But I want her to like me as me,” he said, his voice dropping from angry to sad. „Not some alien being inside me.”

„But you have to admit, it sounds really cool, girls would like it.”

Marco gave him a scolding look, but he breathed a laugh.

„I guess you are right. But I want this to be real. A blooming romance of two people.” He raised his arms, making a hippie gesture, his eyes bright with one-second romanticism. Tom rolled his eyes.

„Does it really matter how you will get her?” he asked, waving his hand. Marco’s eyes narrowed.

„I don’t like your attitude, mate. Of course it matters. It’s about two persons finding common ground, finding love in each other, loving all the imperfections just because they’re theirs,” he beamed again, lost in his imagined harlequin.

With his every word Tom was looking sadder and sadder. But he was listening to his kind-of-friend anyway. Isn’t it what friends do?

„I get it, I get it.” He made a placating gesture with his hands, then got back to leaning on it and yawned. „Well, I haven’t found your remedy yet, but I think I’m on the right troop. So hang in there and don’t let your mortal body die too early.” He smirked. Marco rolled his eyes

„Ha ha, very funny, Tom.”

Tom showed all of his teeth in response. Then he leaned more comfortably on his arms.

„So. Tell me more about this Jackie of yours.”

Marco was reluctant at the start, he was tripping on words and stuttering. But with each sentence he was getting more and more into it and soon it turned into a fluent elaboration on Jackie Lynn-Thomas. Tom listened, or at least tried to listen, and couldn’t help but wonder if he still loved Star as he used to, if he could talk abut her like Marco did about Jackie. He breathed a laugh when Marco took a break to restore oxygen in his lungs.

„You sure have it hard, don’t you?”

„I guess so.” Marco smiled sheepishly.

„It’s cute.” Tom smiled at him teasingly. The boy raised an eyebrow.

„Cute?” he repeated, looking at him questioningly.

Tom’s eyelids fluttered, as his head jerked up from a daze.

„Uh, yeah. You talking about her,” he explained. Then scratched his neck, shrugging. „It’s something Star would say, I guess.”

„Yeah, she would,” Marco laughed. They fell into comfortable silence, until Tom yawned again. „Maybe you should go to sleep?” offered Marco. Demon shook his head, then nodded.

„Yeah, yeah.” He yawned again. „I will. ‘Night, Marco.” He waved halfheartedly and before Marco could wave back, the mirror went black and then back to reflecting only boy’s face. He suddenly felt lonely, although Star’s room was only few meters away. He went downstairs to get himself something to eat and then do some reading before bed. Not even once did cross his mind a thought that trusting Tom was becoming more and more natural to him.

 

Marco hesitated a lot, thinking about pros and cons of his idea, before actually calling Tom the next day. He didn’t know how exactly time worked in the Underworld, but he hoped it was similar to his Earth time zone, as it was evening when the demon wished him good night.

Tom picked up after few signals with a groggy „Yeah? ‘Sup?” He was half-tangled in sheets as if he was trying to make himself look decent for the call but then noticed the caller ID.

„Oh my gosh, did I wake you up? I’m sorry!” Marco apologized hurriedly. He hoped not to interrupt his sleep as he was looking exhausted lately and he rung in the afternoon. Tom slowly shook his head, disentangling his arms from the blanket.

„No, I woke up a while ago,” he assured. „Didn’t come around to getting up yet though.” He shrugged, smiling with last hints of sleepiness. Marco’s shoulders relaxed a bit at his statement. That is, before demon’s covers slipped down his body, revealing the purple skin of his bare chest. He felt his cheeks warm up. „Something happened?”

Marco felt so stupid and suddenly all his doubts came back to him. „I just-,” he stammered awkwardly. „Wanted to talk?” he finished with hesitation. Tom looked at him expressionless and Marco felt so bad for interrupting him, he could sleep some more then and he was ready for this indifference to turn into rage and maybe inter-dimensional stream of fire that could kill him on the spot or...

Tom shrugged.

„Just lemme grab a coffee first,” Marco heard, before having a glimpse of bunny patterned boxers, and then was left with only the view of demon’s messy black covers.

His heart stopped weirdly and he hoped Tom will come back with come clothing on.

He didn’t.

He sat cross legged, embracing his skull shaped mug with both hands, blowing at the steam above it with softly looking lips. Tom looked at him from under his long eyelashes and something in his body suddenly felt weird.

„Any topic you have on mind?” Tom asked, sipping his coffee. It apparently was hot even for a demon as he winced and stuck out his burnt tongue. Marco couldn’t stop observing a demon in his natural habitat. They sure spent some time together but despite Tom being now in the Underworld, they never were so close to their lives outside of games or unfortunate parties.

„When we take care of your arm”, Tom started, looking at his coffee. „would you want to go skating? Or something?”

„Sure.” Marco smiled, not understanding what Tom was so hesitant about. The demon looked at him in relief. He furrowed his eyebrows. „I’m not using you, Tom. Friendly reminder it’s been you using me from the start.”

Tom smiled bitterly.

„Fair point,” he nodded.

„No offense though,” Marco added.

„No offense taken.” Tom’s smile softened. He sipped his coffee and his eyelids fluttered shut as it apparently cooled down enough to be more pleasurable. Marco coughed.

„Question.”

„Shoot.”

„Would ice rink melt if you skated on it?”

Tom put his mug down, looking at him seriously.

„I don’t know, Marco. I’m quite hot.”

They managed to look at each other with straight faces for a whole three seconds before bursting into laughter. Marco learned that Tom was a good skater, at least he claimed to be, and they established they’d go together ice skating and Marco hoped to throw some shade on Tom’s skills.

They’ve been talking like this for some time. About their exceptional skills in various disciplines, about places in both their worlds that were worth visiting. And Marco constantly reminded himself there was nothing wrong with Tom’s disheveled state. And nothing wrong with being at least a bit embarrassed by it. And every time when he was about to point it out, he stopped himself cuz he shouldn’t mind, right? Most of the time he forgot about it, focused on their conversation, on Tom’s lips and how he smiled at his jokes.

Soon enough, Tom had to attend some business meeting and he talked with Marco for some more time while getting dressed and then hung up, promising to call soon. And he did, late in the evening. He looked exhausted again, as if the days in the Underworld were longer than on Earth. He told him about the meeting and about what he found on demon leeches. They didn’t say goodbye for a long time on that night, Marco quietly talking about his fears until worn out demon fell sleep.

 

After that they started talking more often. One dayStar walked on one of their calls.

„Marco, are you talking to yourself agai- ooh.” Star stopped in the doorway, spotting Tom’s reflection in the mirror. „Is that what is happening every time I hear voices?” she wondered, looking at the two boys.

„Well,” Marco smirked. „I can’t say every time, but...”

Tom laughed and Marco grinned at him. Star furrowed her eyebrows, looking from one to another.

„Marco,” she said. „Tom is rubbing off on you.”

„We’re working on his misunderstood bad boy image,” the mentioned demon said, beaming. Star narrowed her eyes but didn’t respond. Marco, leaning on his hands, looked at her with curiosity.

„Did you want something? I thought you went out with Janna?” he asked. Since he started spending more time looking at the mirror, Star found herself other company to hang out with. After few misadventures Marco somehow missed, she and and Janna grew closer and when he wasn’t looking it became something he would even label as too close, but he didn’t want to be too nosy about it. After all, despite being weird and maybe a bit crazy, Janna was still a friend and not some shady creature from another dimension. Besides, he thought it was good Star was making closer friends on Earth other than him just as he was befriending other dimensional folks.

„Yeah, about that,” she said, waving the wand in her hand and ignoring the presence of Tom. „Janna is throwing a birthday party for Jackie soon and she’s busy with it right now. I’m supposed to join her later.” She pulled a face that made Marco guess Janna suggested Star was too overwhelming for the task. He looked at her sympathetically. „And,” she continued, „you’re invited, of course, oh and don’t tell anyone, it’s a surprise party,” she added quickly, waving her hand, as she remembered about it. She took a breath to continue, when Marco interrupted her.

„You just told Tom,” he said, pointing at the mirror, where Tom was sitting cross legged on his bed. He raised his hand to say „Hi” with a tiny smile. The demon opened his mouth and Marco just knew he will offer to hung up, so he stormed in before him. „Can I take Tom?” he asked, not giving it a second thought. He just felt like taking Tom with him was right.

„Marco, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he heard from two sides. Marco looked at Star with bewilderment and then turned to Tom, his face turning to hurt. Tom’s expression was hard to read. He bit his lip with his sharp teeth.

„I’d love to go,” he said. „But-”

„Your arm, Marco,” Star interrupted, impatient. „It can wake up again!” she reminded him, exasperated. The boy winced.

„I know,” he whispered. „But Tom has been avoiding me for few weeks now, I think few hours with him won’t do much harm?” he tried hesitantly.

„No!” Star said firmly, while Tom trailed of with „Well...”

„Tom!” Star hissed at her ex-boyfriend, who just shrugged, seemingly unaffected.

„I want to spend time with my friend too, Star,” he said and the Princess’ lips turned into a thin line. Then her eyes turned to Marco.

„I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she repeated, but before he could answer, she added, „But there’s something else I wanted to tell you.” She said and her friend could sense a strained tone in her voice. He noticed her lower lip was already red from biting down on it. She was tucking her hair behind her ear, suddenly nervous.

„What is it?” he asked, sitting up.

Star’s eyes flicked to the left and he looked there too. Tom shifted uncomfortably on his bed.

„I was going to hang up soon anyway,” he said. „Bye Marco. See you, Star,” he waved at them and Marco waved back. Then the mirror went black and he turned to his friend. Star sighed and approached his bed, flopping on the mattress face-first. She mumbled something into it.

„Star, we talked about it.” Marco rolled his eyes, climbing on the bed next to her. „I can’t hear you when your face is squished into bed.”

She made a pained grunt and turned her head to him, blowing her hair out of the way. The girl looked as if what she was about to say was forced upon her to spill. She sighed again and, closing her eyes, turned on her back to put her arm across her eyes.

„I think Janna has a crush on Jackie,” she said. But before Marco could process it, she smiled bitterly. „Well, that’s important for me. For you important is that Jackie may have a crush on Janna. Actually, there may even be a thing already.”

Marco blinked. The silence stretched and neither of them moved.

„What are you saying,” he asked dumbfounded, not even able to make it into questioning tone.

„I’m saying,” she repeated, sighing deeply. „That neither of us stands a chance with any of them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Luv U! Leave a comment? c:


	5. FREE COOKIE FOR A DECENT CHAPTER TITLE, GUYS, I'M NOT KIDDING

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe it took me A MONTH ???? AND IT'S SO SHORT AND SHITTY I'M SO SORRY I'VE BEEN STRUGGLING WITH EVERYTHING LATELY BUT I FINALLY WENT TO PSYCHOLOGIST TODAY AND SHE IS SO GOOD I ALREADY FEEL BETTER. CHEER FOR ME AND FOR THE FUTURE OF THIS FIC.
> 
> EDIT 12-03-17  
> I MAY NOT BE FINISHING THIS. I LOST MY WRITING SPIRIT. IT'S NOT ONLY THIS FANFICTION, I CAN'T WRITE AT ALL. SO IF THERE'S NO UPDATE IN LIKE, TWO MONTHS IT MEANS I'M AT LEAST SPIRITUALLY DEAD. SORRY.

Marco slowly lied down next to his friend. His hand found hers and squeezed gently, stroking the back of her palm with his thumb.

„How long has it been going on?” he asked softly.

„I don’t know,” she answered after a beat of silence. „For some time, I guess?” she shrugged, her face still hidden in her elbow. „I haven’t noticed ‘til she lied down too close to Jackie.”

Marco felt something in the pit of his stomach. But it wasn’t because Jackie could have someone else already. He would loathe himself for such thoughts when his friend was sad. So he was glad for the lack of them, apparently covered by the worry about Star.

„Maybe that’s not what you think,” he offered, pressing together their shoulders. „Look, we’re laying close right now, but it doesn’t mean anything. Not like that at least.”

Star sighed and he could tell she rolled her eyes even without her putting her arm down.

„You’re comforting me, Marco, not watching a movie,” she pointed out, her voice bitter.

„Still, they may be just close friends. Don’t jump into assumptions, Star, I always tell you.”

She silently agreed. Then turned, curling into him and he awkwardly put his hand on her head. She smiled a bit though from what Marco could see, her eyes were glassy.

„I will find out for sure,” she said with more confidence. Marco nodded.

„That'd be a good start,” he agreed. Then he felt her head move under his hand, when she looked up at his eyes.

„Is that okay?” she asked. And he couldn’t place the question to anything, though he tried really hard.

„Is what okay?” he countered, furrowing his eyebrows. Star was tapping on the mattress with her fingers.

„Me liking Janna,” she explained. And it took him another second to understand.

„Totally.” He shook his head. „I mean, how could it not be? Star, you’re from another world and know magic, we fight monsters and me almost dying once or twice is not okay, but that? That’s so okay I didn’t even notice it could be not.” He shrugged. Star sat up, discretely wiping the corners of her eyes.

„Nah, I was just messing with you, Marco, I know it’s okay,” she said, waving her hand and sliding off the bed, although her eyes were grateful. „Do you want to watch a karate movie?” she threw over her shoulder with her hand on the doorknob, now her old self back.

„Always.” Marco grinned, sliding off his bed.

 

He was torn. He haven’t called Tom for two days and usually he wouldn’t share information on another people, especially his friends, _especially_ unchecked information. But it was eating him up and taking all his thoughts. He bit his nail, hesitating in front of the mirror.

Star was off most of the time, helping Janna with Jackie’s birthday party and sniffing around for clues. And he couldn’t talk about it with her anyway, because their problems were connected.

Finally, he dialed Tom, who answered the call when Marco was about to give up. At the sight of his friend, Marco’s chin dropped. He has seen him in bad shape already, but his state seemed to be getting worse and worse with each call.

„Tom? Are you… Are you okay?” he asked hesitantly. The bags under demon’s eyes seemed so unreal as if it was a characterization he can pull down any second. He seemed to have laid down in his clothes, now all wrinkled and sweaty. His hair were sticking up in every direction and didn’t look fresh. Even his horns seemed dull.

“Mhm, good as ever. ‘Sup, Marco?” he asked, turning on the other side, ready to go back to sleep any second. Marco furrowed his eyebrows.

“Good?” he repeated. “Tom your bags have bags of their own! Believe me, you don’t look good,” he exasperated. Tom’s response to this was an amused, sleepy snort. His eyes were closed already, but he managed to open one for a sloppy smirk.

“I always look good, Marco,” he pointed out, and the boy rolled his eyes as the demon giggled quietly to himself. The lack of sleep was visibly getting to him in the shape of slowly progressing insanity.

“Well, not today, Sleepless Beauty,” retorted Marco, ignoring demon’s amusement. “What are you even doing that is more important than sleeping?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Work. Important stuff. Very important stuff,” Tom murmured, nuzzling his pillow with a faint smile. “I would let you watch, but it’s so important, Marco, so, fuckin’ important…” he trailed off and Marco winced.

“Language,” he reprimanded him, but Tom only giggled some more.

“So? Why did you call me?” he asked, although keeping his all eyes open seemed to be a struggle. He managed only with two.

“Nothing.” Marco quickly shook his head. “You should go to sleep, it can wait,” he said, because he would feel really bad if he kept Tom awake only to whine about his imaginary relationship with Jackie who may be a lesbian. But Tom was already sitting up straight, the irritated look on his face apparently enough to make him more or less awake and responsive.

“No,” he said, his eyes narrowed. “Tell me.”

Marco licked his lips and he felt Tom’s eyes on it and shivered at the thought that if not for the mirrors, he could bite it off. And then he suddenly remembered something of much bigger importance than his pathetic crushes, so important he completely forgotten about it.

“Jackie’s party is the day after tomorrow,” he said. “Remember?”

Tom looked at him with irritation, trying to recall what the boy was talking about, and then suddenly his eyes lit up with understanding.

“Oh. Yeah. Right. Yeah, now I do. I’ll get there, I promise,” he blurted out quickly. Marco narrowed his eyes.

“Tom…?”

“I just don’t know if I will manage to be on time, but I will surely turn up!” he assured with an apologetic look on his face. Marco sighed.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind,” he said, although something inside of him stung. He wanted to step in with Tom, show off his demonic buddy, make people jealous, let them see how cool and badass he was. “I’ll wait for you,” he added, before he could gave it a second thought. Tom looked up.

“You don’t have,” he said, but Marco stopped him.

“It’s fine, I just don’t want to be this one loser who turns up by himself. Playing the lonely wolf didn’t turn out well for me so far.”

“I can imagine,” Tom laughed and Marco gave him an irritated look. The Demon quickly coughed. “Do I have to dress up somehow? Or anything I should know? I don’t know Earth customs.”

“Dress up like you do everyday, just more partyish.” Marco shrugged. Then he tapped his chin. “You should bring a gift, I guess. It’s not obligatory, but well seen. But please, consult it with me before you decide.”

“Afraid I will give her something better than you?” Tom smirked, teasing.

“What? No! That’s impossible.”

“Is that a challenge? I take it as a challenge.” Tom’s grin grew wider.

“Tom, don’t…”

“See you at the party, Marco!”

“Tom!”

The mirror switched off, the sight of half naked grinning demon waving to him embroidered in his brain. He grunted, flopping down on his pillows. But then his frown turned into a smile. He made Tom look alive and smile although he looked half-dead just minutes before. His stomach filled with a warm feeling of pride. Marco buried his face into a pillow as he felt his smile grow disturbingly wide.

 

The day of the party came pretty quickly and Marco has barely seen Star for the past few days. She was probably still trying to figure out the relationship between Jackie and Janna as she would surely run to him with the news if she found out anything already.

So he was alone in his bedroom, grabbing one thing out of this wardrobe after another, when he heard a familiar sound. He told the mirror to pick up without even looking, as his recent habit was. There was only one other-dimensional creature who ever called him.

Tom appeared to be doing the same thing as him, although less excessively and self-conscious. It was still two hours before the party and he has mentioned he had to do something and will probably be late due to this. But the sight of him preparing his clothes beforehand made Marco feel more reassured about the whole thing and the promise that Tom will join him nevertheless.

The demon shoved a shirt in front of the window without a greeting.

“Do you think Star will like it?”

Something flipped in Marco’s stomach at the question. Right. He almost forgot the whole hanging out thing started because Tom wanted to win over Star’s heart. He wondered if he should tell him that Star was interested in Janna. He should. He totally should, but it was Jackie’s day, and he was excited for it too, it was a party, and he didn’t want to ruin it. Maybe Janna really likes Jackie, and so Tom would have a chance with Star? The sole thought of it make his throat dry.

“I guess it means not.” Tom frowned at his strained face. Marco quickly shook his head.

“No, it’s good, it’s good,” he assured, although he just noticed the t-shirt with one-eyed triangle that Tom was holding. Janna would like it for sure. Jackie probably too. “Wear it, it’s nice.”

“Thanks, Marco.” Tom grinned, throwing the T-shirt on the chair and sitting on his bed. “I see you still haven’t decided?” He smirked, leaning his chin on his hand and only then did Marco remember he was standing in his bedroom only with his boxers and a red shirt thrown over his shoulders. He shivered uncomfortably under the demon’s gaze and started furiously buttoning it up.

“No, I haven’t,” he admitted through gritted teeth. He could feel Tom’s amused stare sliding down his bare, skinny legs.

“It’s uneven,” he heard but didn’t understand until he ran out of buttons and then his sudden realization was accompanied by Tom’s laughter. He turned around, his back to the mirror, trying not to think about the edge of his boxers sticking from under the shirt.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere?” he asked, his voice shaking with irritation.

“It’s much funnier here,” Tom answered. Marco gritted his teeth. Why was it getting so hot in there?

He undid his shirt and grabbed a pair of black, skinny jeans. He turned with his side to the mirror, so he won’t have to show his butt to Tom more than he already did. Tom snorted with amusement watching him struggle with his pants and he felt his face heat up. Then he turned around again to slid the shirt off his shoulders and grab another one and heard a choked noise from behind him. He turned his head, a slight scowl on his face.

“What again?” he asked irritated, but Tom’s face was flushed and his mouth closed. He shook his head.

“Nothing, just,” he looked up at Marco’s eyes and then all over his body, as if looking for something. Marco felt a shiver go down his spine. “You have moles on your back too,” he stated, his eyes bright and round with wonder.

“I guess I do,” sighed Marco, rolling his eyes. He quickly grabbed a T-shirt to cover himself with, still feeling Tom’s eyes all over his body. “Thank you Mr. obvious.”

There was a silence behind him and it started to creep him out, when Tom finally interrupted it, saying, “Not this one, wear something else. And don’t worry, take your time, I’ll get you as soon as I’m done. See you.”

Marco turned around but the only thing he could see in the mirror by now was his own reflection. He felt alone, as always when Tom hung up. But something in his voice made him uneasy and he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off with Tom. He hoped to ask him about it later.

“So I guess he’s done and won’t be back? I was afraid he will never take his filthy hungry eyes off of you.”

Marco almost jumped out of his pants and got a panic attack on the spot. He couldn’t understand how he could overlook somebody in his own room. He looked around, taking on a defensive pose. Someone was standing in front of his balcony, their back to him.

“Who are you?” he demanded, not moving yet, but ready to defend himself.

“Oh, and you don’t remember me. How rude. You have no discipline, just as I expected you to,” came his response, and even before the shadow turned towards him, his memories and the words clicked in.

“You...” he trailed off, before sensing another presence in the room.

“Get her.” And he didn’t even comprehend for a second, dumbfounded towards whom the feminine pronoun was used, and this second was enough for another two shadows to knock him out of consciousness.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading c:


End file.
